Designing and handcrafting jewelry, for me, has always started with a vision. The design comes to me in a vision of color, or form, or even just one bead in my collection of many.  But, until I put that vision down on a bead board, what seemed gorgeous in my head, many times required a Plan B or even a Plan C.  In fact, in some ways, creating jewelry is a lot like the road to how I became a jewelry designer in the first place. 

 

I was in my forties and trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up (Yes, I said in my forties!).  I decided to go back to school hoping that furthering my education would help me figure out just what it was I wanted to do.  I began my journey by enrolling in an interior design program at a local university.  I was really looking forward to the higher, instructive principles of color, form, etc., to supplement what I already knew instinctively. This particular interior design program also included classes in other forms of art design.  One of the classes was in jewelry design and I loved it right from the start!  The freedom, and the creativity this class offered was pure enjoyment for me, and “right up my alley” as some would say. Unfortunately, jewelry design was only a small part of the program and the rest of the interior design program was nowhere near as fulfilling for me.  So, after giving the interior design program a two-year effort, I dropped it and decided to take a completely different road.  My new chosen path, or Plan B, was to pursue Cultural Anthropology.  So now, I’m sure you’re thinking “Anthropology??!”  Well, I’ll tell you how that “fork in the road” turned out next week